A Dance in the Rain
by c1araoswa1d
Summary: Tumblr Whouffle Prompt: Eleven/Clara dance in the rain


Clara can't quite remember the name of the specific place they're in, but the planet is called Floris and it makes her smile every time they pass a flowering bush as he's excitedly telling her about its medicinal properties while secretly, she knows, trying to discern which is her favorite. Watching his arms wave about, Sonic held tightly in his right hand, she listens to him tell her a purple bloom with a green discharge can be boiled to cure what humans would _affectionately_ call the common cold… and then the first large droplet hits her nose.

Her eyes cross and she raises her hand to wipe it away, but he gasps and takes hold of her hand, pulling her into a run and for a moment she fears that with large batches of flowers there must be giant bees and the liquid now dropping off her chin could very well be urine of some sort. But, she realizes all too soon, it's just rain. A monsoon of rain that drenches them despite the covering of trees and Clara laughs as they slow to a stop.

"No point in trying to get the Tardis now," the Doctor mutters, releasing her to glance at his clothes, soaking quickly as he pouts. "Rain! I specifically checked the forecast for no rain. Not a drop of rain. And look at us, like a couple of penguins in a pool."

"It's _just_ a little rain," Clara replies, glancing up with a smile at his odd choice of words before raising her eyes to watch the offending substance drop down between tree branches with narrowed eyes. Shutting her eyes, she concentrates on the splashes on her face and the coolness of it and then it's suddenly gone, replaced with a shade and her eyes snap open.

He's standing in front of her with a concerned look on his face, shaking water out of his hair as he holds an oversized leaf atop her head, telling her quickly, "We should get back to the Tardis and dry up."

Giving him a small nod, she answers, "Or we could enjoy the rain for a moment."

There's a smile on his lips as he tilts his head to the right and asks curiously, "You want to play… in the rain?"

Giggling, she reaches out for his hands and pulls him towards an open space, where the rain is falling in torrents and she watches him grip his hands at his sides when she releases him and then laughs. "You act as if a little rain could be the death of us," then she stops, straightening to ask seriously, "Doctor, it is just a bit of harmless rain – nothing in the mix that _properly_ could be the death of us."

His shoulders slump as his head ducks and she can see the grin lifting his lips before he shakes his head and offers lightly, "No, no, Clara. I just thought you wouldn't… like it – most humans don't prefer to wade around in wet clothes in a forest, they find it rather uncomfortable and I thought, with the skirt and the tights and the chafing…" his words taper off as he looks her over and then glances away. "We could," he turns with a smile to tell her, "Play a bit in the rain, I _suppose_." He ends with an air of feigned annoyance before they share a grin.

Walking a circle around him, Clara looks out at the flowers that ring the small clearing and she explains, "My mum told me never to tell anyone, but… when I was little, we used to run out in the rain every so often. If it wasn't too cold, we'd hold hands and we'd dance, singing and giggling. She said her mum never let her, always told her she'd catch her death of pneumonia that way, but she'd always done it anyways and – well – she was still around to tell me about it, so obviously her mum was wrong about that."

Holding out a hand, the Doctor bows lightly, "Care to dance then? Make your mum proud?"

Clara blushes slightly, watching his eyes light up knowing he's caught her off guard and she smirks because it amuses her that he took so much pleasure in that fact. Taking his hand, she laughs when he twirls her underneath his arm and then catches her other hand, leading them to skip sideways in a circle, like children. She watches him, head tilting back in the falling droplets before he gapes back at her and her heart gives a jolt – Clara enjoys the moments when those sad eyes lose their sorrow and he becomes carefree and young.

In those moments she forgets he's a Time Lord, an alien from another world; in those moments he's just like her, just someone who wants to have a good time with good company and maybe, just maybe, forget the responsibilities of their lives. For just that moment.

Stumbling, Clara laughs, finding herself caught in his arms before she falls and in one less than graceful spin, she's pressed flush to his chest, her feet atop his, feeling his ragged breath against her forehead as he smiles down at her and nods, "Think your mum was definitely onto something."

Not thinking, she inches up and kisses him gently, just at the corner of his lips, and she backs down slowly, peeking up at him to gauge his reaction. Clara expects him to be shocked, maybe a tiny bit mad, but she finds him grinning down at her with an odd satisfaction before he begins to sway with her held tightly against him. Her mum and dad had their first date during a rainstorm, she suddenly recalls.

"_First time he kissed me_," she'd told her as she made faces. "_Despite the umbrella, and your father's best efforts, we were both soaked to the bone and I can remember knowing, the second he looked up, standing at my doorstep – he was going to kiss me_."

"What are you thinking?" The Doctor asks lightly, hands clasped together behind her as they moved to the music of the rainfall, now tapering off.

With a smile, she replies, "Mum was definitely onto something."


End file.
